Uncanny explores a chilling Buckinghamshire charity shop poltergeist case, where multiple witnesses report eerie encounters, including a shadowy figure, moving objects, and disembodied voices
The Charity Shop Poltergeist
The second episode in season two of the BBC television adaption of Uncanny, discusses a potential poltergeist case.
The setting is a charity shop in Buckinghamshire, which sold vintage clothing, antiques and toys.
Viewers of a nervous disposition who watched this season’s first case, The Haunting of Hollymount Farm, may be pleased to note, that the production team have reined in the unnecessary jump scares for this episode. The witness testimonies in Uncanny are haunting enough.
Viewers are introduced to Sybil. A no-nonsense, vintage clothing fan with a distinctive style. Sybil became manager of the shop in 2021. She describes working in the three-storey building, which dates from the early 1700s as her dream job.
Like so many witnesses that Robins has interviewed for Uncanny episodes, Sybil has previously remained quiet about her story.
Stating she did not want to be branded as crazy. Her experiences made her feel vulnerable. This is a theme that comes up time and time again.
How many more people have stories to tell, that do not come forward for fear of ridicule?
We live in a society that too easily dismisses what it does not understand. The beauty of Uncanny is that it provides a safe space for people who witness unexplained phenomena.
A place where experiences can safely be discussed and mulled over by sceptics and believers without judgement. All working towards one final goal, understanding.
Unlike previous episodes, this is a very recent case with multiple witnesses. Disembodied voices, objects flying off shelves and mysterious apparitions. This case has it all.
Danny Robins and his team of experts, forensic psychologist Dr Ciarán O’Keeffe and parapsychologist Evelyn Hollow set out to find the cause behind the charity shop poltergeist. Sybil recounts her first strange encounter. It happened before the shop was open to the public.
A fleeting shadow in her peripheral vision. Sybil initially brushed it off as tiredness, but the strangeness began to escalate.
Sybil was soon joined in the shop by a second staff member, Sheila.
Sheila did not want to go on camera to share her story, but Robins has privately corroborated it.
While working in the shop together one day, Sybil witnessed a male figure walking down the stairs.
The figure was so real, Sybil believed it to be a living, breathing human and rushed to confront him. Of course, as in all good ghost stories, there was no one there.
After the incident, it was Sheila’s words to Sybil that are possibly the most haunting aspect.
“Does it bother you that he is here?” Sheila asked.
As usual, O’Keeffe and Hollow debate possible explanations for the events. Sleep paralysis and night terrors are ruled out. Visual perception and auditory pareidolia theories are put
forward.
“Would two people really hallucinate the same thing?” Hollow asks.
O’Keeffe packs Robins off to experiment on his neighbours with the power of suggestion and audio phenomena. The audience can join in from home. What did you hear?
Back to the charity shop more staff are experiencing strange things. Sybil tried to play it down. In her own mind she gave the ghost a name. She cannot explain how or why she came
up with it. It just happened. Events started to impact day-to-day work. Staff became afraid to go upstairs alone.
Robins meets the next witness; Sophie who started there in 2022. Sophie describes the shop as a magical place to work, unlike any charity shop she had ever been in. The stock made it special; each item had its own unique story to tell.
Unfortunately for Sophie, she had not been there long when her working day took a darker turn. Just like Sybil, Sophie kept her experiences to herself. How do you explain to your manager that a ghost followed you around the attic? A ghost which Sophie had also privately named.
A further witness is interviewed. Another staff member who saw items move, seemingly of their own accord.
“Fear is like butter, it spreads easily,” Robins’ states poetically.
The experts debate contagion as a possible explanation for the events. To test this theory, Robins heads to Royal Holloway, University of London to meet Professor Amina Memon a leading expert on eyewitness testimony. Robins uses her students in an experiment to demonstrate how fragile and susceptible the human mind can be.
Sybil once again takes up the story and we move forward to 2023. The shop had a problem with the heating, an engineer was called to fix it. The engineer told Sybil he needed access to the basement. A basement, Sybil did not know existed.
It is this discovery that leads to another theory for the supposed supernatural activity. Hollow discusses the possibility of a stone tape haunting. Is the property somehow playing back past events, triggered by building work?
O’Keeffe disagrees, stating there is no scientific evidence to prove stone tape theory. The term was coined in the 1970s from the title of a BBC film of the same name. The theory itself, however, dates from the 1800s.
To find out more, Robins heads to the city of York to uncover the story of Harry Martindale and the Treasurer’s House. Martindale claimed to have seen at least 20 Roman soldiers walk out of a wall, whilst working in the basement of the property in 1953. He described it as being like a scene from a movie. The past replaying itself. The case is an intriguing one and has similarities to Sybil’s sighting of the man on the stairs.
Robins continues to dig into the history of the charity shop. With the help of historian and researcher Antony Robbins, they uncover some sad clues to the identity of a past resident.
The audience is reminded that this is more than a ghost story. This is the history of a real person, who suffered a life changing loss.
As the episode concludes, there is one final chilling tale from Sybil. An incident which left her fearing for her own life and questioning the real motive behind the charity shop poltergeist.
Did you watch The Charity Shop Poltergeist? What do you think – paranormal activity or rational explanation? Share your thoughts in the comments!
